Zambia forced to ration power supply

A large drop in the water levels at Lake Kariba, the key supply for Zambia’s hydro-electric power plants, has forced the country to begin rationing power supply.

Last week Zimbabwe, which shares the lake with Zambia, began implementing 18-hour outages.

Lake Kariba is the biggest source of power for both countries but Zimbabwe has already used up its annual water allocation to produce power and was eating into Zambia’s share.

Zambia is now restricted to producing 800MW of power and Zimbabwe 300MW daily.

Water levels have dropped to critical levels at Kariba due to successive droughts with low rainfall and excessive use of water for power generation.

Domestic consumers have begun experiencing power outages of up to six hours every day and Zambian authorities say the rationing is to avoid a completed shutdown of its power stations.

Zambia has said it will continue to export power despite the rationing.

The power allocations will be reviewed in January, as seasonal rainfall is expected to start filling up the lake.